Arian Foster, defending rushing title champion and would-be starter for the Texans, will have his hamstring scrutinized for another seven days after missing Sunday's matchup against the Saints.

Foster is officially out as of 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, meaning that Ben Tate will get the carries for the Texans, with Steve Slaton backing him up as Derrick Ward is also inactive for Sunday's contest.

Foster's absence is a good thing, if only because the Texans absolutely need to let him get to 100 percent this season before giving him any more carries. They're 2-0, the AFC South is absolutely anemic and even a game against the Saints suddenly doesn't hold the pressure that it might have if 2011 hadn't gone bananas for their division.

Would Foster help them attack the Saints defense? Absolutely. But more important right now is making sure that Foster's hamstring gets completely healed.

The Texans need him for the long haul and Tate's doing a fine job filling in for the moment, so there's no reason not to ride him.

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"Arian did not practice today but worked extremely hard in his rehab," head coach Gary Kubiak said after practice Friday. "He took a big step forward ... it will be a game-time decision."

If I were a sick fantasy football fan who drafted Foster in like 15 leagues, I would resign myself with a "sigh" right now. But right after that, I would run out and pick up Derrick Ward, who will be, according to Kubiak, starting IF Foster can't go on Sunday.

Ben Tate will also get some snaps, although it seems most of the world (sans Kubiak) believes he's a better runner. Ward, on the other hand, is a better blocker.

So it actually makes sense, as our friend Steph Stradley of the Houston Chronicle points out, that if the game between the Texans and Colts is close, that Ward will continue getting the lion's share of carries. If the Texans, as we expect, pile up a big lead on Indy, then you can be sure you'll see plenty of action from Tate.

We mentioned yesterday that Kubiak has an interesting gamble on his hands with this game -- sitting Foster to give him an extra week of rest assuming that the rest of the team can handle a Peyton Manning-less Colts team -- and it's clear he's leaving that option open.

Even if Foster does play, it's unlikely that he'll get anything more than 10-15 carries, though, as the Texans have a full season to worry about, not just Sunday's game.

Unfortunately, from the sound of the things that Gary Kubiak -- who called Foster day-to-day Wednesday -- said after practice it doesn't look like we'll get an answer until a little closer to kickoff against the Colts.

"Everything’s still progressing the same way," Kubiak said Thursday. "But obviously we’re getting close to game time."

But Kubiak won't ever really know. Only Foster will when his unless the "hamstring gods" carbon copy his coach as well.

"I'm going to get an e-mail from the hamstring gods, and they’re going to tell me when it’s ready," Foster said when asked how he'd know when he's ready to play. "I refresh my e-mail every 20 minutes."

"No, I don’t think so," new defensive coordinator Wade Philips said when asked if he'd change his preparation without Manning in the game. "Like I said, the first ball game is enough. Maybe later in the season maybe some things change, but right now we’re excited about playing this game. We want to put our defense together, play mistake-free and make some plays."

What Phillips didn't mention is that he absolutely owns the Colts new starting Kerry Collins, who is 0-7 in his career when going against Philips-coached teams, having never scored more than 17 points.

Does that mean that the Texans are finally going to shake the Colts and dominate the AFC South. Well nothing's a guarantee but if the stars could ever align for a division title my goodness it's happening for Houston.

Which is probably why they don't want to jinx it.For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed.

"Because it wasn't a serious hamstring injury, merely an aggravation of the injury that caused him to miss two weeks of camp, he'll be ready for the Colts," McClain wrote. "No one knows for sure about it being an issue this season, but fantasy football owners should take him and not look back."

Yes, there's a good chance McClain's decision to mention fantasy football will sit hilariously well with Foster. And no, he's not actually reporting that Foster has been cleared to play Week 1, I don't believe.

And no, it's also not an official word from either the Texans or head coach Gary Kubiak.

But McClain knows the team as well as anyone not actually employed by said team, and if he's willing to push his chips into the center of the table to back Foster's ability to get on the field Week 1, that's about as good a sign as you can get for the Texans running game.

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"This is an MRI of my hamstring, The white stuff surrounding the muscle is known in the medical world as anti-awesomeness," Foster tweeted on Wednesday.

"If I had a "significant injury" why post it?" Foster added on Twitter later in the afternoon. "I'll be fine, it was jus meant to make fun of the whole situation. Humor is lost nowadays."

Look, Foster's got a point here. If this MRI showed his leg being broken in half, there wouldn't be anything amusing about it. And he's indicated over and over that he'll be fine, but pretty clearly he's dealing with a hamstring injury. No one is debating this.

There's some chatter that this injury could be a "three-to-four week" healing process, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll miss that time, just that the Texans might take it easy with their workhorse.

"Obviously Arian's number one. Everything was positive today. It looks like we’re dealing kind of with the same thing we were dealing with at the start of camp," Kubiak said Sunday. "Hopefully get him back on the rehab train and get him ready for opening day. He'll be day-to-day.

"I’ll keep you guys up to date, but we feel like we're fortunate."

For those that don't know, Foster is one of the most legendary fantasy football stories in the past decade or so, because he was a bargain value on draft day after he ended up leading the league in rushing.

This has generated a significant amount of attention to Foster in the form of fantasy junkies who, as he told us recently, thank him every single day for helping them win fake championships. Foster, for his part, doesn't care for the attention.

And he's right -- if people are harassing him about his hamstring injury because it might affect their fantasy team, well, they are "sick." (Everyone knows if you don't want to look like a weirdo, you keep those thoughts to yourself.) If you don't believe me, just check out his next tweet.

"I put nothing but positive thoughts and energy out on here, but look at what gets the attention," Foster said of his Twitter account. "This reiterates my original point."

Then there's the matter of his real team. The Texans have more depth at running back this year with Ben Tate healthy, but Foster is going to be a big key to them trying to take the next step and becoming a playoff team.

Plus, when you're worried about that -- as well as defending a rushing title -- your concern about Jack McGillicutty's first-round pick in his $50 fantasy league just isn't going to be that high.